PM's labour goes in vain, TUs remain on war path

NEW DELHI: A day after their three-hour long meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, trade unions have reaffirmed their resolve to go ahead with their anti-government agitation. Seeing “no concrete assurances” on reinforcing labour laws, the trade unions on Sunday said the UPA government was simply planning to put the ball in the states’ court.

With the standoff over labour laws continuing, trade unions have no plans of calling off their country-wide strike on December 14, the call for which was given last month at a national convention of workers. Trade unions have opposed any changes in labour laws in the textile industry and the suggestions made by the group of ministers.

The prime minister tried to drive home the point that there was an urgent need to amend labour laws in the textile industry. Though the union leaders told Mr Singh that they were open to reforms as long as it did not go against workers’ interests, the trade unions’ resolution announcing the strike had opposed giving a blanket exemption to the textile exporting industry from provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, amending the Act to proscribe any strike in textile exporting units and changes in the Factories Act, allowing weekly working hours to be increased from 48 to 60 hours.

Trade unions, which raised the issue of violations of labour laws and non-registration of trade unions during the meeting, were of the view that the government was only paying lip-service to the cause of workers. The PM’s assurance that he will write to all chief ministers about labour laws and take it up in the National Development Council is seen as an inadequate move by them to address workers’ problems.

“The genesis of the problem remains. There is no concrete assurance on implementation of labour laws,” CPI leader and AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta said. However, the government did make promises on releasing pending wages of workers in PSUs, revising bonus ceiling and constituting a consumer price index review committee. The PM said the government wanted to engage trade unions in a dialogue and described them as an inseparable part of the democratic process.